Analysis of the Justice Department’s plan to end Google’s search monopoly – GIGAZINE

The US Department of Justice is asking Google to sell its Chrome browser in the name of ending market monopoly. This stance of asking Google to hand over its major products is extremely difficult for Google, but what the Justice Department is really seeking is something bigger than Chrome, according to technology media outlet The Verge. We present expert opinions on intentions.

Breaking down the DOJ’s plan to end Google’s search monopoly – The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/27/24302415/doj-google-search-antitrust-remedies-chrome-android

In 2020, the Department of Justice sued Google, accusing it of illegally maintaining a monopoly in the search and search advertising markets. In this case, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta for the District of Columbia ruled that “Google has a monopoly on general search and text advertising.” We proposed a business split.

The US Department of Justice requests Google to sell Chrome, and Google counters that it is “far beyond the court’s judgment” – GIGAZINE

One of the split plans is to sell Chrome. According to The Verge, the true intent of the Chrome divestment request is not only to take Chrome out of Google’s hands, but also to untangle all the services that are tightly tied to it.

For example, the Department of Justice has told Google that it “must not give search, advertising, or AI products preferential access to Android or other Google-owned services.” In other words, you should not set Chrome as your default browser on Android or preinstall AI’s “Gemini”.

In addition, the Department of Justice is asking Google to release its search-related data. According to the Department of Justice, Google maintains vast amounts of data about the words users type into search boxes, an amount that no other company can match, and that it is unable to develop products based on search queries. It is said to be exposed to little competitive pressure.

Although this situation can be described as the result of a company’s efforts, the Ministry of Justice considers it a “monopoly” and requires companies to disclose search queries, website display rankings, etc. to competitors for a small fee. “This allows competing search engines like Bing and DuckDuckGo to improve their products very quickly,” the Department of Justice said.

Mandeep Singh, an analyst at Bloomberg, points out, “Search data itself is Google’s most powerful thing, not Chrome, which is just a tool for accessing search data.” “If Google’s search index becomes available to everyone, competition in search could intensify. Google would make some money by buying and selling data, but it would not be able to use its monopoly. “This could be a significant drop in revenue, potentially reducing search revenue by up to 10%.”

It may seem unreasonable for a government to order a company to release its most valuable data, but Shubha Ghosh of Syracuse University’s Intellectual Property Law Institute says it’s “not impossible.” Ghosh said, “This is because Google did not create the data.Data is not protected by intellectual property rights.In short, it is like questioning the ownership of news, and the fact that it happened itself has property rights. It’s not like anything is going to happen.”

Google has objected to these proposals, saying, “There are privacy issues as personal search queries will be made public,” and “Technology development will be hindered by being placed under the supervision of an institution with tremendous power.” The Department of Justice pointed out that it was interpreting the court’s ruling in an expansive manner.

Mozilla, which develops Firefox and relies heavily on payments from Google, warned that the Justice Department’s proposal could have an unnecessary impact on browser competition, saying it would do more harm than good to competition. pointing out. On the other hand, the developer of DuckDuckGo said, “Advertising revenue may increase as other search engines grow in size,” and has shown some welcome to the reform.

Google’s response is expected to be finalized after a court hearing in April 2025. There is a possibility that the Department of Justice will accept only part of Google’s proposal, but it could still shave billions of dollars from Google. There is also a view that the Department of Justice may seek to sell the Android OS as a final trump card.